Reza Khandan – “Our First and Foremost Priority is to Convince Nasrin to End her Hunger Strike”

From the Facebook of Reza Khandan the husband of incarcerated human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh now on the 13th day of her hunger strike at Evin prison:

I recall a few years ago a dear friend had launched a hunger strike and I jokingly said to Nasrin: “Why do those who plan to launch a hunger strike eat so little? They should launch a strike to eat more and become stronger in order to build endurance to tolerate their time behind bars.”

A few days ago, having been quoted several times through the grapevine, our comments summarized and modified, I saw a headline printed in a media outlets that read: “Let us put pressure on the authorities, rather than ask her to break her hunger strike.”

There is no doubt in my mind that this statement was not deliberate, but rather was a version of what had originally been said, after being recounted and summarized repeatedly as it circulated from person to person.

When a hunger strike is launched, the first priority of the family and friends of the individual launching a hunger is their health and well being. We are no exception to this rule. For us, Nasrin’s rationale and objective for launching a hunger strike is secondary, our first and foremost priority is that she breaks her hunger strike. The statement I had made was as follows:

In addition to asking Nasrin to break her hunger strike, we should complain to the authorities who leave prisoners with no other recourse but to put their lives in danger in order to obtain their fundamental rights. A group of women did this when they asked Nasrin to break her hunger strike and at the same time wrote a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor protesting Nasrin’s current situation, waiting hours on end at the prosecutor’s office in order to personally deliver their letter to the authorities.

We may think that these types of actions have no effect. If that is the case, then we must seek to find methods that are more effective.

Rest assured that now that Nasrin is on a hunger strike, our first and foremost priority lies in convincing Nasrin to break her hunger strike.